Something
Beautiful: Our Mission of Hope

Remarks
by David Kilgour at

The
Annual Dinner of The Mission, Tudor
Hall

,Ottawa

,
3
May 2002

We
have all just had a good taste
of our Mission: a memorial for
those in our community who died
in 2001;an excellent dinner,a musical contribution,
eloquent words about the work
from Board Chair Robert Nelson
and Executive Director Diane
Morrison;an encouraging account
of a life skills graduate, John,
and a gentle plea for donations
from Paul McKechnie.

It
will have struck many of you,
as it does me, that having another
speaker after all that gives
a whole new dimension to the
word superfluous. Let me, however,
attempt to reinforce a few points
from what we have just heard.

Who
is our neighbour?

“How
can God love me when I am like
this?”Diane Morrison hears
from people at the Mission.“We are dealing with
people that tumbled to the bottom,...and
we try to help them get back
up and build their souls.First, and more importantly,
to give them inner strength
and then to work on the outer
body.”

Isn’t
it our duty as believers to
break down walls between people/peoples
and to extend our hands in friendship
to all?Our love, like God’s,
must be directed first to vulnerable
brothers and sisters.We must boldly offer
a light, not paralysis, to communities
everywhere, especially in a
post-September 11 world.As Isaiah said“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me ....
He has sent me to heal the broken hearted.”

Shouldn’t
the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta
be our model?The aim of her Missionaries of Charity was
“Let every action of mine be
something beautiful for God.”Many people thought her
40 years in the slums of India
was social work only.She noted: “People think
we are social workers, but we
are not. We serve Jesus. I serve
Jesus 24 hours a day.”

Some
of you will have read in our
Update(ottawamission.com) for
Winter 2001 about the reunion
of Glenn and Devin.After four years or so
in the world of drugs and the
streets, Devin left our Mission
and met his father Glenn.Diane’s account indicates
that the two of them came to
the Mission after Christmas.Devin looked healthy and they spoke of the
healing that had taken place
as he worked on the stained
glass windows for a church in
Quebec.

“This
was Devin and Glenn's best Christmas
in many years.To celebrate this year of blessings, they held
a special Newfoundland Christmas
dinner, complete with toutons,
Jigg's Dinner and the trimmings.Fifty-two special friends,
many from out of town, showed
up to celebrate.Donations were made to
support the Mission's meal program.This was their gift of
love to those who need The Mission.”

An
equally compelling story is
told by Laird Eddy about a Christmas
dinner at the Mission.A young women called
Laird as he passed her aisle.“Excuse me sir,” she
said, “but I have no presents
for my children. Can you help
me?” Among all the donations
that came that Christmas, Laird
was able to find two packs of
cards, chocolate bars, two stuffed
toys, right sized hats and mitts
and crayons.He put everything in
two gift bags and brought them
to her.There were tears in her
eyes as she took them.“I realized once again
how special it can be when you,
our donors, work with us to
share what we have with those
who are less fortunate,” says
Laird.

“I
don't believe,” he adds, “ it
was the gifts that touched her
so much as the knowledge that
there were people who cared
enough to help a stranger.In small ways, we bring
the love of God to the voices
in the crowd around us that
cry out for our help. It never
takes much to make someone's
life better.I want you to know that
all the gifts, both large and
small, that you gave through
the Mission this Christmas,
have changed people's lives
for the better.On behalf of that mother,
her two children and the large
crowd of people who need our
help every day, thank you for
your continuing support!”

“Why
are you helping me?” is a common
question for Laird too.He replies: “Because I care, I want to help!Everybody that comes
to the Mission says that there
is no other shelter home like
it.Some of these people
have travelled across the country.The reason is simple,
staff here genuinely care.”

The
quality of the food, the cleanliness
of the rooms and most importantly
the sincerity of the staff and
volunteers is a special trait
not found in all shelter homes.We are trying our best
to give people hope, but how
can you give people that?The mission has proven
that you can. All you have to
do is to really care.

Mission
Programs

Let
me mention only three of our
programs:

1.Life Skills - a six month
program that helps clients with
addictions.

It’s
targeted at those who lack basic
life skills and who, as a result,
are homeless or at risk of being
so.It’s a 24-hour service
with at least one life skills
counsellor on staff at all times
to help restore confidence by
dealing with the issues that
create current circumstances.

2.Hospice -targets members of the
homeless community who are

suffering
from a terminal illness.Many homeless people
die on the streets, in rooming
houses, and in shelters and
some spend their last days in
a hospital.A young man, Jim, was
the inspiration for the Hospice.He had HIV/Aids, a drug
addiction, mental illness and
an addiction to smoking.“We try to give them
quality of life,” says someone
who works in the program.Seventeen persons have
been admitted to the Hospice
since it opened, and three quarters
of them have re-connected with
their families.

3.Spiritual Services -
This is entirely voluntary,but many accept the

invitation.The Mission provided
over 300 chapel services in
2001 with average attendance
between 25 and 50.There were Bible studies
and Christian encouragement
on a daily basis.Encouraging a good relationship
with our Lord is why we exist
as a Mission.The services we provide
arise from the love that God
has called us to share with
one another.

Some
current stats

The
average number of people who
stay each night is now 225,
compared to 76 in 1994. Due
to overcrowding, we had to add
over 50 beds in 2001.We can now accommodate
up to 230 people a night without
using floor mats. When necessary
however, mats are used in the
chapel area.There were times in the
year 2001 when mats had to be
used in our lounge and eating
areas as well.

Too
often, people have to make a
choice between paying their
rent and buying food.The Mission provides meals to many in the community
who cannot afford food.In calender 2001, we
served over 220,000, as I mentioned
earlier, hot nutritious meals
to the hungry of Ottawa.That number will rise
to over 250,000 this year.Feeding the hungry is
one of our most important ministries.Without the help of you our donors we would
not be able to do this.A special thank you has
to go out to our suppliers and
the Ottawa Food Bank for making
this particular miracle possible.

Currently,
we have 185 emergency hostel
beds for those who need a place
to stay.We also have 45 rooms that provide supportive
living for pensioners, the mentally
ill and those who are in the
life skills program. The average
length of stay in the rooms
is six months for people in
the life skills program. Pensioners
stay much longer, some indefinitely.

The
average length of stay in the
emergency shelter is about 45
days (up from 24 in 1994).Some stay longer depending
on their circumstances.The average age is 38,
but ages range from under 18
to over 65.

In
the past seven years, we have
seen occupancy increase by almost
100 percent.Ottawa has responded
by sharing time and resources.In the past few years
the number of donors supporting
The Mission has increased, thank
God, from 3,000 to 30,000.We have been reaching
out through newspaper ads and
mail and the residences of this
city have been generous in their
response.As a result, The Mission
has been able to respond to
growing needs and institute
programs that give people a
second chance in life.

Homelessness

People
have different reactions when
homeless persons approach them
for money.“I work for my money,
why can’t they” is a common
response.“I‘m worried if I give
them money then they will use
it to buy drugs or alcohol,
and that way I didn’t help”
is another.In many cases, this is
the unfortunate reality.

Homelessness
can occur to anyone: a teenager
escaping an abusive care giver;
a senior citizen on a fixed
income facing a rent or tax
increase; a child whose parents
suddenly become unemployed.The spiral from stability
to distress can begin in a five-minute
meeting in which someone is
fired from a job.

The
number of homeless Canadians
has been steadily rising mainly
in urban centres, but there
are still no reliable statistics
on many people live on the streets
or in substandard shelter.

The
2001 Census attempted to track
the homeless. Stats Canada identified
every homeless shelter in Canada;
on May 15, everyone who spent
the previous night in a homeless
shelter was to be counted.Census workers in major
cities also visited parks, drop-in
centres and soup kitchens to
ask those who spent the night
outside to complete questionnaires.The result for this survey
will be published in May 2003.

Causes

There
is no one cause of homelessness,
of course, but contributing
factors can include:

1Addiction,

2.Mental illness,

3.Financial restraints.
Homelessness and poverty are
inextricably linked. Poor people
are frequently unable to pay
for housing, food, child care,
health care, and education.
Difficult choices must be made
when resources cover only somenecessities. Often it
is housing that gets dropped.

My
Brother Don

I
might add here a word about
my late brother Donald, who
died of cancer in 1989.Don was one of those lucky people who on the
surface had every advantage.He attended a private
school and summered at a luxurious
cottage at the Lake of the Woods.He played football for
his university varsity team
and was head of his fraternity.At the age of 19, he
graduated from university and
at 23 wrote a column as theatre
critic for the Montreal Gazette.

Unfortunately,
his work as a critic seems to
have affected his exposure to
alcohol and drugs and before
very long he was unable to write
so he left his job.For the next 15 years he was an alcoholic.Thanks to a chapter of
AA and a remarkable women, Carmen,
he was finally able to drop
the booze.

Had
he lived in Ottawa, our Mission
might have played a role in
his recovery. Perhaps the life
skills program might have helped
him to address his alcoholism.

My
brother died 12 years before
our Hospice for the homeless
was opened, the first palliative
care centre for the homeless
in Canada.He was never homeless
to my knowledge, thanks to Carmen,
and he spent his last six months
in the hospital St. Luc in east
Montreal, where he was very
well treated by a really caring
doctor and staff.Perhaps some of you have
a family member who suffers
an addiction problem and a life
terminating illness.

It
is no accident that the shelters
for homeless men/women in Ottawa
and virtually everywhere else
on this continent are supported
by faith-based communities.Those who work as volunteers at our Mission
or elsewhere know that faith is
what sustains us all when we are
discouraged.

Conclusion

But
let me close with three rhetorical
questions:

1.Is it not encouraging to
believers of everyfaith that the Queen Mother,
whose spirituality was at the
centre of one of the most public-service-oriented
lives anywhere, evidently attracted
more people world wide to observe
her funeral really than did Winston
Churchill’s?

2.Is it not good to read
the cover story of the April 1
of Maclean’s magazine, “Living
the Faith——Nine Canadians who
put their beliefs into action”?I was struck by the importance
of the Bible in the lives of several
of the nine women and men featured.

3.Is Reg Bibby’s latest book, Restless Gods: The Renaissance
of Religion in Canada (Stoddart),
not encouraging to believers of
all faiths?I gather it concludes that
God is very much alive in the
hearts and minds of Canadians
and that if our various faith
groups do the right things they
are primed for major renewal.Fully 81 per cent of Bibby’s
respondents across Canada attested
to their belief in God.Three out of four Canadians
say they pray at least occasionally
and nearly half claim to have
personally experienced God.His 2000 survey, moreover, indicates that for
the first time in years church
attendance among teens is on the
rise.